Lately I've been
asking myself the question: What will be the events of the last days
of the Church age? I have been
searching the scripture for verses that
describe those events as well as asking
our Heavenly Father for the correct
interpretation of scripture that will give us
insight as to those events and the sequence of
those events. I'll first explain to you in
order the events that I believe will
happen, then I will give links to the
articles and the scripture that discuss
these events later in this article.If you have
read many of the articles on this website, you
probably have figured out that we believe that
the end of the Church age is near and that the
last event of the Church Age will be the First
Fruits Rapture of the most faithful of Christ's
saints--the Church of Philadelphia (Rev
3:7-13). The first event
signaling the end of the Church age will be
the destruction of the city of Damascus by
nuclear weapons. This destruction is
described in detail in the article: The Burden of
Damascus. Briefly, either the
United States or the Nation of Israel will
destroy Damascus, the center of terrorism
because of a terrorist attack on either the
USA or Israel. Damascus will then be
leveled by nuclear missiles and the only
remains of this city will be piles of
radioactive debris. The nuclear fallout
will spread south and east and cause many
residents of Jordan to flee from the
radiation. They will leave so quickly
that they will leave their flocks and their
belongings behind. Within minutes
of this destruction, the news will be announced
over the TV and on the Internet.

Here are the verses:

(Isa 17:1-3 KJV) The burden of
Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from
being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The
cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be
for flocks, which shall lie down, and none
shall make them afraid.The
fortress also shall cease from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant
of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the
children of Israel, saith the LORD of
hosts.

The fortress are
faithful Christians that support and pray for the
nation of Israel--here mentioned as Ephraim, one
of the sons of Joseph. The "ceasing" means
that they will no longer be on the earth and hence
not be able to directly support Israel.
After Damascus is destroyed, the First Fruits
Rapture will take place on the following
Pentecost, the Day of First Fruits, which is one
of the seven Jewish Feasts. Thus, after Damascus
is destroyed we will
know with certainty when the First Fruits
Rapture will take place. After Damascus is
destroyed, Philadelphia Christians should
encourage each other to be faithful to Jesus:

(Hebrews 10:23-25 KJV) Let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering;
(for he is faithful that promised;) {24} And
let us consider one another to provoke unto
love and to good works: {25} Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching.The Day Approaching is the
First Fruits Rapture. Next, the
Midnight Cry will sound: (Mat 25:6 KJV) And at midnight
there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom
cometh; go ye out to meet Him. This cry will possibly
happen just before Resurrection Sunday
(Easter), and the only persons that can hear
this cry are Christians across the
world. This is a message that will
announce the immediate return of Jesus Christ
for His betrothed wife, the Bride of Christ,
the most faithful of His disciples; they are
members of he Church of Philadelphia--small
Bible churches or home churches and they are
those disciples that are studying and obeying
the Holy Bible and are watching and praying
for Christ's return for the First Fruits
Rapture. Jesus will also return to
include the court of the Bride. These
are the second most faithful of His
saints. They are few in number and are
the most faithful members of the churches of
Sardis (Protestant), Thyatira (Catholic) and
Laodicea (mega-church, TV church). They
will not be watching for Christ's return, but
they will be living a righteous life for Him
and performing good works that glorify
God. The Philadelphia Christians are the
most faithful Christians of today as well as
the most faithful Christians of the 2,000 year
church age. We believe that in the Book of
Revelation, the Four Living creatures are the
Bride of Christ and are sharing Christ's
throne in Revelation, chapter four. The
twenty four elders sitting on their own
thrones around Christ's grand throne are the
court of the Bride of Christ. These two
groups of Christ's most faithful will miss all
of the Tribulation because they are faithful
to Him in this age. When the Midnight
cry is complete, all of the Church of
Philadelphia will receive their resurrection
bodies and be completely holy, sinless and
righteous. They will walk around in
robes of white and will be glorious in
appearance. They will then be
judged by Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ
and He will be very pleased with them and give
them many rewards for their faithfulness.Percentage wise,
we think that the First Fruits Rapture will
include about 10% of the Christians in the
world. If there are one billion
Christians in the world, then 100,000,000 will
be taken to Heaven in the First Fruits
Rapture. This is still a sizable number
of people, and because most will be very
trustworthy business owners and workers and
many will be from the United States, this will
cause a severe disruption in the American
economy. This is how we work:Colossians 3:22-24 ASV 1901)
Servants, obey in all things them that are
your masters according to the flesh; not
with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in
singleness of heart, fearing the Lord: 3:23
whatsoever ye do, work heartily, as unto the
Lord, and not unto men; 3:24 knowing that
from the Lord ye shall receive the
recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the
Lord Christ.The economy of
the rest of the world including the European
Union will also be severely effected and the
leadership of the USA and Europe will not know
what to do to handle the ensuing chaos.
This will allow the Antichrist to step in and
be given control over the USA and then over
the European Union. Read FAQs about the
Antichrist for information about the
Antichrist. An overview of the Book of
Revelation is given: FAQs
about the Book of Revelation.Those Christians
that are not currently watching for Christ's
return and are performing few good works are
those believers that will not be included in the First Fruits
Rapture. They are so caught up in the
cares of the world: buying and selling,
advancing their careers, seeking fame and
fortune and even participating in some of the
same sinful activities as the unsaved that
Jesus cannot distinguish them from the unsaved
of the world. Because of their current
weak faith, Jesus determines that they
will be given a second chance to be
faithful so they will be left behind to be
persecuted during the first half of the
Tribulation so they can demonstrate their
faith in Him. Jesus Prepares
the Churches of Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea
for the Tribulation

Before they are
cast into the Tribulation, Jesus has
graciously decided that He will prepare them
for His service. The Midnight Cry will
be a notification by Christ to His faithful
saints that He will shortly take them to
Heaven in the First Fruits Rapture. It
is also a warning to all unfaithful Christians
that He is displeased with they way they live
their lives and for their lack of good
works. The Midnight cry will most likely
occur sometime during the week just before
Resurrection Sunday (Easter). He will
somehow direct the less faithful Christians to
go to their churches and there they will
receive instruction on what He expects them to
accomplish during their 3 1/2 years in the
Tribulation.There is a
possibility that some of the one talent
Main Harvest Christians may not answer the
Midnight Cry: "The Bridegroom cometh" and hence
will not go to their church, so Christ can
prepare them for faithful service during the
Tribulation.Main Harvest
Christians know that He is not pleased with
them and after He leaves, they will admit in
prayer to God that they have indeed not lived
their lives for Him, but have instead lived
unfruitful, sinful lives for themselves.
They will start trimming the sin out of their
lives even before they set foot in their
churches. When they all arrive at their
church, Jesus will describe their failures
just as He describes their weaknesses to the
Churches of Sardis, Thyatira and Laodicea in
the Book of Revelation. He will then
tell them that He will allow them a brief
period of time to prepare themselves
spiritually for their testing during the
Tribulation. Since Jesus is God
and therefore has omnipresence, He will have no
problem at all appearing at the same time to the
thousands of Christian churches across the
world.Because they
rarely read the Bible and have no interest in
the deeper truths of the holy scripture,
including prophecy, the unfaithful Christians
will not have even a clue to what is coming
up, of what kinds of testing that they should
expect during the Tribulation. Christ
will let them know that they will lose their
homes, their wealth, their positions, any
companies or stock they may own and then later
will be rounded up and placed in detention
camps and some will even lose their
lives. At mid-Tribulation all will be
taken to Heaven in the Main Harvest
Rapture. Jesus then tells
the Main Harvest Christians, that He
will be departing to Heaven and that He is
leaving His faithful disciples, the Church of
Philadelphia to instruct them in the Holy
Bible and in the path that He expects them to
follow. This instruction will happen
over the next 50 days. After they have
completed their mission, the Philadelphia
Church will then be taken to Heaven in the
First Fruits Rapture at Pentecost. The Main Harvest
Christians will be very fearful of what will
happen to them and they plead with Jesus to also
take them to Heaven and He responds with "I
don't know you. You have not been
faithful in your service to me during your
time so far on the earth." He then ascends
directly into Heaven. Jesus will then
use the church of Philadelphia disciples to
instruct the unfaithful believers. The issue that
Jesus has with the unfaithful Christian is not
Spirit Salvation, but their works ("I know
your works"). Jesus observes that
they have few good works and have many evil
works, so they will be given serious instruction
on avoiding evil and accomplishing good works
for God. It should be noted that there are
equal numbers of wise and foolish virgins.
Thus, there is a strong possibility that Main
Harvest Christians could be tutored one-on-one
by Philadelphia Christians. Those
Christians that are sick and cannot travel will
be given personal instruction by Philadelphia
Christians.An Agenda for the
Discipleship TrainingThey already
know, but will be told again that Jesus
has found their good works lacking during
their time so far on the earth but He has
graciously decided that they will be given a
second opportunity to show their faithfulness to
Him by being tested during the first half of the
Tribulation. Their testing will begin
after Pentecost.God will give
them abilities and resources to complete
righteous works during the 3 1/2 years they will
be left behind on the earth. Some will be
given more resources and abilities than
others. These will be the current pastors,
deacons and teachers in the churches of
today. Others in the churches will be
given fewer abilities and resources. If
they perform all the righteous works that God
gives them to do, they will show their
faithfulness to Him and He will thus be pleased
with them and then count them as good and
faithful servants of His. Those that are
given more resources and abilities will be
expected to accomplish more than those that have
fewer abilities and resources. Those that
are faithful will receive glory and honor in the
Millineum Kingdom and be rulers over many
cities. They will also
be told that some of them will not be faithful
to God during the Tribulation. At the Main
Harvest Rapture at mid-Tribulation all Main
Harvest Christians will be taken to Heaven
whether they are faithful or not. When
they arrive in Heaven, their works will be
evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
If faithful, they will be given rewards and if
not faithful, they will receive the condemnation
of Jesus. During the Tribulation, 2/3 of the
Main Harvest Christians will become faithful and
1/3 will not.Biblical Doctrine

Shown below are
several topics that the Philadelphia Christians
could teach the Main Harvest Christians during
the grand feeding just before the First Fruits
Rapture. Jesus will undoubtedly have more
topics that He wants covered, but I believe
these are the main categories that will be
discussed. Because they will also be
empowered by the Holy Spirit, all of the
following lessons will be understood by Main
Harvest Christians:Overview.
A summary of the discipleship of the next fifty
days will be covered by Jesus before He departs
to Heaven. He then strongly encourages
each to listen carefully and then to apply what
they hear to the way they live their lives
during the first half of the Tribulation.
His final encouragement will be to instill in
them the desire to be watching for His return at
mid-Tribulation for the Main Harvest Rapture.Grace.
Our spirits are saved by grace through faith in
Jesus Christ. There is no work we can
perform that will save us. This is Spirit
Salvation:Ephesians 2:8-9
(NET):
For by grace you
are saved through faith; and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not
from works, so that no one can boast.Election of the
Saints. God saves who He wants to
save. I believe that there are many more
people that God saves than we may realize.
Unfortunately, those Christians that are living
a self-centered, sinful life are some times
identified as "unsaved" by some Christians in
the church. However, God knows all He has
called and we as believers should not judge
anyone as unsaved or not. If God wants to
save someone, He will simply call them out from
the world to be His own. For more details
read: Doctrine of
Election.Baptism.
Baptism is a public expression of dying to self
and the world and being raised to a new life
in-Christ Jesus: a life that is dedicated to
God. Believers after Baptism are
expected to begin a life of discipleship and
sanctification. Each book of the
Holy Bible will be explained verse by
verse. Every Christian will be
expected to ask questions and members of the
Five Wise Virgins, the Church of Philadelphia
will answer these questions. Difficult
chapters will be given extra attention,
especially those that are always ignored in
Sunday School material and in sermons.
This would include The Judgment Seat of Christ,
Soul Salvation, the Book of Revelation,
watching for Jesus' return and performing good
works for rewards. Many chapters of the
Bible will be explained prophetically in
addition to being explained literally.Agape Love.
God expects us to love Him, fellow believers,
the Jews and others as He loves us.
A close fellowship with God will provide the
hope to endure the Tribulation so the reward of
the Main Harvest Rapture at mid-Tribulation will
be a day they will be joyously looking forward
to. They should also love the
unloveable--to love those that may even hate
them or want to hurt them. Crucify Self.
Each Christian will need to put Christ first in
their lives and to not yield to selfish
temptations. During the Tribulation, sin
will reign and extra care will need to be taken
to avoid evil and to live for Jesus. Most
Main Harvest Christians will follow
Jesus: "And he said unto all,
If any man would come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow me." (Luke 9:23 ASV 1901)Soul
Salvation. The spirit is saved by
grace through faith. The soul is saved by
being faithful to God. For more details
read: Soul vs
Spirit Salvation.The Four Gospels.
Each
verse
will be explained. Many verses of the
Gospels are commands from Jesus for how we
should live our lives in service to God, how we
should treat each other, end-times prophecy and
to be watching for His return.The Meat of the
Word. These are the more
difficult passages in the Bible which include
the prophecy books such as Daniel, Ezekiel and
Revelation. Many passages in the Bible
also have a prophetic interpretation, such as
the Book of Ruth and the Book of Genesis.The Seven Feasts.
The
Book
of Leviticus describes seven feasts that God has
commanded Israel to observe. For each
feast there is also a prophetic
interpretation that is applicable for
Christians. For more details read: The Seven Feasts.Prayer.
How we should approach God through the Holy of
Holies (Prayer: a hands-on
Workbook). The Lord's Prayer and the
prayers of David in the Psalms will be explained
in detail. We should be praising God and giving
thanks to Him for His blessings and the testing
of our faith, making us stronger in the
faith. There will be ample opportunity for
prayer time during the discipleship training.Watching.
How they should be watching for Jesus' return
for the Main Harvest Rapture and be beckoning
for Christ's return for this blessed event.Service.
How they should expect the 144,000 virgins
(Revelation, chapter 7) members of the 12 Tribes
of Israel to be influenced by the Main Harvest
believers and how they should also influence the
Gentiles that are saved during the first half of
the Tribulation. During the
Tribulation, good works will be difficult to
achieve and Main Harvest Christians will need to
say yes when
God prepares a righteous deed for them to
accomplish.False prophets.
Even
during
the time of the apostles taking the gospel to
the Gentiles, false prophets would appear and
attempt to lead Christians from the truth and
wisdom found in the Holy Scripture. This
deception has happened during the whole 2,000
year church age. In the Tribulation, false
prophets will also appear. By diligently
studying and applying scripture to the way Main
Harvest Christians live their lives, false
prophets can be identified and not followed and
asked to leave their congregation.Persecution.
How they should deal with persecution.
Examples will be drawn from both Old and New
Testaments. The persecution that Main Harvest
Christians will experience is discussed in
Revelation, chapter 6, and in the article The Book of
Habakkuk.Book of Revelation.
This
book
of prophecy will first be read aloud by Main
Harvest Christians and then explained by
Philadelphia Christians. The admonition is
to listen and obey the verses in this
book. The spiritual weaknesses of the
Thayatira, Sardis and Laodicea churches will be
discussed and members of these churches will be
encouraged to remove these weaknesses and thus
become faithful followers of Jesus.
Finally, the events of the Tribulation will be
explained in detail.Book of James.
This is an easy to understand description of
becoming a disciple of Christ. Several
passages describe how we should avoid sin
and how to crucify self and live for
Jesus. (Book of James)Book of Romans.
This
is a difficult book of the Bible to understand
and if we persevere in its study gives us the
verses to overcome our sinful nature and to use
the power of the Holy Spirit to live our lives
sanctified to Christ. (Book
of Romans Part One)Rewards.
Rewards for faithful service is very important
in the mind of God and should be to
us. He will reward us for good works done
in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the
very last chapter in Revelation Jesus tells us:
And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is
with me, to give every man according as his
work shall be. (Rev 22:12 KJV).
The Main
Harvest Christians will have opportunities to
work for rewards during the first half of the
Tribulation: The Prudent
Steward.When Instruction is
CompleteAfter the last
discipleship session is given to Main Harvest
Christians by Philadelphia Christians, both Main
Harvest and Philadelphia Christians will somehow
see an open door to Heaven. At this
point the Main Harvest Christians will know that
the Philadelphia Church will very shortly
enter this door to Heaven. They then
make a desperate request to Philadelphia
belivers: "Give us some of your oil." (being
filled with the Holy Spirit). However, the
Philadelphia Christians reply "Go buy your
own oil." (Go accomplish good works through the
power of the Holy Spirit.) The
Philadelphia Christians then ascend immediately
to Heaven through this open door. It will
then close and Main Harvest Christians will then
return to their homes to start their
testing. Jesus may give them a few
days before the beginning of the
Tribulation to form Bible study and Prayer
groups and to discuss what have they have been
instructed on by Jesus and the Church of
Philadelphia. Shortly after
this, the Antichrist will then come to power and
begin his persecution of Main Harvest
Christians. The next 3 1/2 years will be a
time of severe testing for the Main Harvest
believer. However, if they accomplish the
righteous works God prepares for them and
remain faithful, they will grow in faith and
then see that the Tribulation is actually a
blessing because they will then be able to grow
in their faith in Jesus. The article Christians
Left Behind explains what will happen to the Main
Harvest Christians during the
Tribulation. The persecution of Main
Harvest Christians is described in the
article: Book of
Habakkuk.

The Five Wise and
the Five Foolish VirginsIn Matthew chapter 25, Jesus
commands the ten virgins to go to their own
church and to be ready there to hear His
message. This is a prophetic
interpretation of the verse: (Mat 25:6 KJV) And at midnight
there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom
cometh; go ye out to meet Him.
The five wise virgins, the Church of
Philadelphia know that they will go to the
churches that Jesus directs them to so they can
instruct the five foolish virgins to perform
good works for Jesus; a major good work will be
to read, study and apply Bible knowledge to the
way they live their lives. The five
foolish virgins are convicted by the Holy Spirit
and then go to their churches. They
immediately ask God for forgiveness of their
sins (I John 1:9). This is the cutting
away of the dead wick, which allows the Holy
Spirit to work in their lives: (Mat 25:7 KJV) Then all those
virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. During their
time on the earth, the five wise virgins have
also had sin in their lives. A major
difference between the two groups of Christians
is that the wise virgins have been daily confessing
their sins (If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. I John 1:9 KJV)
to God, and thus sin does not control their
lives. With a daily cleansing from
their sins, the Holy Spirit can effectively work
in their lives to produce good works for
God. There is a lot of dead wick (sin) in
the lives of the five foolish virgins because
they have neglected the daily confession of
their sins to God and have also neglected
the cleansing power of the Word of God. (Eph 5:26-27 KJV That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, That he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that
it should
be holy and without blemish.) The parable
of the five wise and five foolish virgins is
interpreted in detail in the article The Parable of the
Ten Virgins.The Feeding of the
5,000The miracle
that is described in Matthew chapter 14 is very
important and is easily understood by
most. The prophetic interpretation of
the verses is difficult, but has great
significance for the Main Harvest Christian, the
less faithful Christian that will be left behind
at the First Fruits Rapture.The miracle of
the feeding of the 5,000 is also included in
Mark's gospel (Mark 6:34-44):34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a
great multitude and was moved with compassion
for them, because they were like sheep not
having a shepherd. So He began to teach them
many things. 35 When the day was now far spent, His
disciples came to Him and said, “This is a
deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into
the surrounding country and villages and buy
themselves bread; for they
have nothing to eat.” 37 But He answered and said to them, “You
give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and
buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give
them something to eat?” 38 But He said to them, “How many loaves
do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said,
“Five, and two fish.” 39 Then He commanded them to make them
all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds
and in fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves
and the two fish, He looked up to heaven,
blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to
set before them; and the two fish He divided
among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full
of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves
were about five thousand men.A detailed
prophetic interpretation of this parable is
given in the article The Feeding
of the 5,000, so I'll not explain every
verse here. What I'll do is to explain why
I think that Jesus will prepare the less
faithful Christians for being left behind
to be tested for 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation
right in their own churches.The green grass
is the comfortable environment that most church
goers have across the world ("He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." KJV Ps 23:2-3). Their
church sanctuary is a place that the Main
Harvest Christians will feel comfortable
in. Jesus commands them to go there at the
appropriate time and most will obey Him. Groups
of fifty are the small and medium-sized churches
and groups of a hundred are the larger
churches. The numbers would be much larger
than 50 and 100, because these numbers are of
men only. The count of people would
increase several times when you include spouses
and children and senior citizens. The sitting down in
ranks would be the orderly sitting in
rows of seats which would occur in the chapels
of the churches.The five loaves of
barley bread are the basicsof Bible
doctrine that Jesus gives to His
disciples who pass out the bread to those that
are seated in the churches. The basics
include repentance, living a sanctified life,
doing good works, confessing sin, reading and
obeying the Holy Scripture and prayer. The
two fish
are the meat
of the word which are the deeper truths
of the scripture and include prophecy and
prophetic interpretation of scripture and
warnings about false prophets and warnings about
not falling away. There is a possibility
that Jesus will have the Philadelphia Christians
actually feed the Main Harvest Christians at
their churches with barley bread and fish during
the teaching sessions. A Lord's Supper
will also be held at each church.Being filled with
the scripture happens each day in the church
from Resurrection Sunday until Pentecost.
Jesus also blesses
the bread and the fish, hence all will
have a full understanding of the
scripture, their knowledge deeply enhanced by
the presence of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the
Main Harvest Christians will be filled with
the word of God and be prepared to serve Jesus
during the first half of the Tribulation. Because they
will have seen the glorified Savior, Jesus, they
will be very open and teachable.The twelve baskets
of fragments of bread and fish will be
the gospel message that Main Harvest Christians
will somehow give to the 144,000 faithful
Israelite virgins that Jesus will call at
mid-Tribulation (Revelation, chapter
7). Those gentiles that God saves
during the first half of the Tribulation will
also receive some kind of instruction from Main
Harvest Christians. The Israelites and the
gentiles will also observe the faith of Main
Harvest Christians and they will see that most
will be very faithful to God, even when
persecuted by Antichrist.The First will be
Last and the Last will be First(Mat 20:16 KJV) So the last shall
be first, and the first last: for many be
called, but few chosen. This verse is
included in the parable The Parable of
the Laborers and it teaches two important
truths. The first is that those who are least
important in the Church on the earth will be
raptured in the Firstfruits, and those who are
most important will be raptured in the Main
Harvest Rapture, at the middle of the
Tribulation. These will include most
of the pastors, deacons, teachers and other
church leaders.This verse also
teaches that many of those who held the most
important positions of leadership and honor in
the Church on the earth will hold the least
positions in the kingdom of heaven, and vice
versa. Many Christians who are virtually unknown
in the Church on the earth will hold the most
important positions in the heavenly kingdom.

The Parable of the Talents

Jesus will have
the Philadelphia Christians explain the Parable of the Talents. Briefly,
all Christians left behind will be given
resources, talents and abilities to accomplish
righteous works for God during the
Tribulation. The pastors, deacons and
teachers will be given five talents each and
will be expected to lead the church members
during the Tribulation. They will be
continuing the messages all will hear between
Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost. The Christian
that currently attends church regularly will be
given two talents and be expected to obey the
church leadership during the Tribulation.
The Christian given one talent rarely attends
church and will be afraid of persecution and
will not obey the church leadership during the
Tribulation. Bible Study and prayer times
will be avoided by this unfaithful Christian.Most (2/3) will
be very faithful and be praised at the judgment
of their works and 1/3 will not. Again,
this latter group of Christians will be fearful
when they see the persecution that Christians
will receive at the hands of Antichrist and will
accomplish no good works for Christ. Since
they will have been warned during their training
that some would not be faithful, their
evaluation at the Judgment Seat of Christ will
be most severe. They will have no excuse
for their failure to be faithful during the
first half of the Tribulation. Because of
their lack of Bible knowledge, the one talent
Christians will be taken by surprise when Jesus
returns at mid Tribulation for the Main Harvest
Rapture. The faithful 2/3 will be
watching and praying for Jesus to return.

Dating the First
Fruits Rapture: the Birth Pangs just before
the TribulationWe cannot predict
an exact date for the First Fruits Rapture, but
we can determine a general time when it will
transpire. Jesus tells us the
events to expect before the First Fruits
Rapture:Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you
astray.Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead
many astray.Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars
and rumors of wars; see that ye be not
troubled: for [these things] must needs come
to pass; but the end is not yet.Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
and there shall be famines and earthquakes in
divers places.Matthew 24:8 But all these things are
the beginning of travail. (ASV 1901)The 20th and
21st Centuries have fulfilled all of these signs
with World War One and World War Two, the Korean
war, the Vietnam war, the two Gulf wars and many
other smaller conflicts. There have been
false messiahs appear and seem to be from God at
first, but they later turn out to have evil
agendas, such as Jim Jones in the Guyana tragedy
of 1978. There have been many earthquakes
across the planet. The huge 9 plus
earthquakes in Alaska and Chile in the 1960's,
several earthquakes in southern California and
San Francisco; the Mt St Helens eruption in 1980
and several other volcanic eruptions across the
world. There have been many droughts and
famines in Africa and China. Countries
such as Haiti have been devistated by both
earthquakes and famine. The great Tsunami
of 2004 killed many people in southeast Asia and
India and the 9.0 earthquake and Tsunami of 2011
killed many people and destroyed a great deal of
infrastructure of eastern Japan. The great
series of tornadoes across Georgia, Tennessee,
Mississippi and Alabama that happened in April
2011 and the hundreds of people that were killed
and the enormous destruction of property shows
that the First Fruits Rapture cannot be very far
away into the future. We can most probably
expect that more
terrible events will soon occur across
North and South America, Africa, Europe, India,
China, Australia and even in the polar
regions. I expect that we may soon see
amazing events happen in the heavens including
comets, meteor showers and even supernovas
(exploding stars). Finally, the Japanese
earthquake and Tsunami that happened in 2011 may
reoccur and if another large earthquake
and Tsunami strikes further south in the
Tokyo area it may take down the economy of Japan
and later the economies of the rest of the
world. Suppose also that many monster
hurricanes slam into the USA, China, and other
parts of the world. If large hurricanes
would hit Miami, Washington, Philadelphia, New
York and Boston at the same time and if a series
of large hurricanes would hit the west coast,
the economy of the USA would crash and anarchy
would probably reign.If droughts and
floods continue to strike the USA, the wheat,
soy and corn production may suffer
drastically. The could cause severe food
shortages across the world and potentially cause
wars to be fought over dwindling food
supplies. The same can be said for those
regions that have dwindling fresh water
supplies. This will also cause much
suffering in those parts of the world.
Following these terrible events will be disease
pandemics and many people will die.Jesus gives us
another insight to the general time that the
First Fruits Rapture will happen:Mat,
24:32-34 (KJV) Now learn a parable of the
fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is
nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see
all these things, know that it is near, even
at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This
generation shall not pass, till all these
things be fulfilled.

Matthew
24:32-34above
simply says that the generation that sees Israel
reestablished as a nation will still be in
existence when all the prophecies about the
return of Jesus have been fulfilled. Since
Israel was established May 14, 1948 and man's
years upon the earth are three score and ten
(i.e., 70), then the beginning of the seven year
tribulation must be very close. The "all these
things" are the events that lead up to and
include the seven year Tribulation. The
"summer" is the time of the seven year
Tribulation and the "heat" of the summer is the
uncomfortable and even painful events that will
happen during the Tribulation. A
generation should be understood as about seventy
years. Thus we have a general time period
for the events leading up to and including the
seven year Tribulation to complete. A
possibility for the end of the Tribulation could
be in the 2018-2019-2020 era. God is
never late on the events that He plans, but
seldom is He early either. The end-times
events He has determined will happen on exactly the
day, hour and second He has planned for them to
occur.Verse 35-36 as
follows is a special emphasis on the certainty
of these prophecies coming to pass.(Mat 24:35-36 KJV) Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away. {36} But of that day and hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. We must be
cautious when trying to specify a specific date
for the First Fruits Rapture. But we must be
watching for that day and Jesus warns
us:(Luke 21:34 KJV) And take heed to
yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so
that day come upon you unawares. and,(Mark 13:33 KJV) Take ye heed, watch and
pray: for ye know not when the time
is. As the day
approaches and if we understand the prophetic
events that Jesus gives us in the Holy
Scripture, we will not be surprised when Jesus
initiates the First Fruits Rapture, just before
the start of the Tribulation. Jesus knows
His most faithful believers, because they will
be watching and beckoning for His return: He which testifieth these things saith,
Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus. (Rev 22:20 KJV)The 10% taken in
the First Fruits RaptureLeviticus 27:30, "A tithe
of everything from the land, whether grain from
the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the
LORD; it is holy to the LORD." For the Feast of the Day
of First Fruits, an offering of two
loaves of bread baked with leaven is offered to
The Lord. There are two loaves baked with
fine flour that came from the sheaves of grain
that mature early; the grain is most likely
barley.The two loaves
of bread represent four types of faithful
Christians: the Jew and the Gentile, male and
female, the Bride of Christ and her Court and
the most faithful believers of today and of the
2,000 year Church age.Being holy is
the criteria; it means to be separate from the
world and to be living a faithful life for
Christ. Yes, these two loaves initially have
leaven in them, but when baked in the
fire, they have been made into something that is
presentable to The Lord. So the lives of
faithful Christians are changed from being
sinful (this is the leaven) to being acceptable
to God. The fire used to bake the loaves
is the testing of their character and their
response is to avoid evil and to accomplish good
works for God.

The Day of
First Fruits is celebrated fifty days after the
Feast of First Fruits. For Christians,
this is Pentecost, the day of the First Fruits
Rapture.A detailed prophetic
interpretation of the Seven Feasts is given in
the article The Seven Feasts.Questions and
Answers

Q.
What happens to the children of the Philadelphia
Christians at the First Fruits Rapture?Any
Philadelphia Christians that have children will
be teaching them the truth found in the
Holy Bible and leading them to follow Jesus in
their daily walk. This is my opinion, but
I believe that their children that are under the
age of accountability will also be taken to
Heaven. The grown children of Philadelphia
Christians will also be taken to Heaven in the
First Fruits Rapture if they are found faithful
by Jesus. If they are not faithful, they
will be left behind to be tested during the
first half of the Tribulation.Q.
What will Philadelphia Christians be doing
during the last days of the Church Age?They will be
studying the Holy Bible in-depth and obeying the
commandments from Jesus. They will be
meeting regularly to encourage each other to be
faithful because these are the very
last days of the Church Age: Hebrews 10:23-25 ASV 1901. Let us
hold fast the confession of our hope that it
waver not; for he is faithful that promised:
10:24 and let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and good works; 10:25 not
forsaking our own assembling together, as the
custom of some is, but exhorting [one
another]; and so much the more, as ye see the
day drawing nigh.The "day
drawing nigh" is the First Fruits Rapture that
we are so looking forward to. This is the
"watching" that Jesus commands us to observe in
Matthew
24:42 where Jesus warns us: Watch
therefore: for ye know not on what
day your Lord cometh.Because they will
be reading the prophetic scripture, Philadelphia
Christians will know the events of the last days
and will be observing these events as they
happen and are broadcast in the news media and
over the Internet.

Because there
will be so many temptations to fall away in the
last days of the Church Age, even by
Philadelphia Christians, Jesus warns us in:

Revelation 3:11 (ASV 1901) I come
quickly: hold
fast that which thou hast, that no one
take thy crown.

It is my prayer
that if you are a Philadelphia Christian, that
you will not waver in your faith and continue to
be serving Jesus and watching for His return for
the First Fruits Rapture.There may be some
Philadelphia Christians that will fall away in
these last days of the Church Age, otherwise,
Jesus would not be warning us of this
possibility. If this happens, they will be
left behind to endure the trials of the first
half of The Tribulation.This is one
of the reasons that God inspired Paul to write
the Book of Hebrews and especially verses
10:23-25. One of the major reasons that
will prevent a Philadelphia Christian from
falling away is to now be obeying these
verses.Q.
What is the difference between an unfaithful
Christian and a member of the Church of
Philadelphia?For the
churches of Sardis (Protestant), Thyatira
(Catholic) and Laodicea (mega church, TV church)
Jesus observes that their good works are lacking
as well as their doctrine (Rev. chapters 2 and
3). For the Church of Philadelphia Jesus
observes: I know thy works
(behold, I have set before thee a door opened,
which none can shut), that thou hast a little
power, and didst keep my
word, and didst not deny my name. (Rev
3:8 ASV 1901). The Philadelphia Christians
read and obey the Holy Bible and do not deny the
power of Jesus' name. Jesus' name is
representative of His power and authority.
So Philadelphia Christians are constantly
working in the power of the Holy Spirit and not
in their own power. The "little power"
Jesus is talking about is the influence that
Philadelphia has on the less faithful Christians
in the world. Only a few Main
Harvest Christians are listening to the warnings
that Philadelphia Christians are giving.
Only a small percentage of Christians across the
world are even interested in prophecy and the
return of Jesus Christ and few are reading the
warnings given in the holy scripture.Q.
Since half of the virgins are wise, does
this mean that half of today's Christians will
be taken to Heaven in the First Fruits Rapture?No, the five
wise virgins are the most faithful of God's
saints for the entire 2,000 year Church
Age. I believe that there are relatively
few Philadelphia Christians of today. Most
of the Philadelphia Christians at the First
Fruits Rapture will be from the Philadelphia
Church Age which lasted from 1750-1900. Q.
Works are not important are they? Didn't
Isaiah in verse 64:6 say that our works were as
filthy rags to God?The verse is:
(Isaiah 64:6 KJV) But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnessesare as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.If our good
works are done for our own personal glory, then
yes, our works are as filthy rags in the sight
of God. However, note
the following verse: (Eph 2:10 NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
Jesus to do goodworks, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.Paul says that good
works accomplished through us by the power of
the Holy Spirit are expected. These works
are done for the glory of God and not for our
glory.Q.
Even Jesus doesn't know the time of His second
coming, so I don't need to even think about it
do I?The verse is:
(Matt 24:36) But of that day and
hour knoweth no one, not eventhe angels of heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father only. No one but
God the Father knows when Jesus will
return, but later in Matthew 24:42 Jesus
warns us: Watch therefore: for
ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
We don't know the day or hour, but we should be
watching the headlines for events that match the
prophecy that we study in the Holy Bible.
Then when Jesus appears for the First Fruits
Rapture, we will not be surprised if we are
watching. If Jesus commands us to watch
for His return, shouldn't we obey Him? Q.
Isn't the main mission of a Christian to get the
lost saved?This is a very
important work that a Christian should
accomplish if called by God to this
mission. If God decides to save a person (Doctrine of
Election), He will empower one or more of
His saints to reach this person with the words
needed to instill faith. (Rom 10:17 KJV So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God.) If you read the
gospels, the epistles of Paul and others, you
should understand that a major work that we can
accomplish is to disciple the saints that God
has elected for salvation. In our opinion
the main mission that we all have is to first
discipline ourselves by in-depth study of the
holy scripture and obeying it through the power
of the Holy Spirit. We should then
help disciple other Christians which includes
supporting them when they fail in God's service,
prayer for each other and in-depth Bible study
and discussion. Jesus gives us the
following command in The Great
Commission: (Mat 28:18-20 KJV) And Jesus came
and spake unto them, saying, All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. {19} Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: {20} Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. Will You Watch?

The Midnight
cry "The Bridegroom cometh" has not yet sounded
and there is still a small amount of time for
you to be watching for and beckoning for
Christ's return and to begin a serious study of
the Holy Bible and then to live a righteous life
for Jesus. If you do, you will become a
member of the Church of Philadelphia and be
invited through the Open Door into Heaven at the
First Fruits Rapture. Here are some
suggestions for becoming a faithful disciple of
Jesus: How to Crucify
Self.